


Initials on a Bridge

by Stuff666



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gay, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 20:01:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20711702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stuff666/pseuds/Stuff666
Summary: THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR IT CHAPTER TWO.After what they had been through, Richie decides he can't keep secrets anymore.





	Initials on a Bridge

**Author's Note:**

> uhhhhh, IT scarred me, not because it was spooky, but because I am Reddie trash, so here is a happier ending than what the boys got in the movie.

The day Eddie got released from the hospital, Richie was there. To be fair, Richie had been there every single day, with the exception of Stan's funeral. All the Losers, minus Eddie, had gone. But other than that, he had been sitting by his bed and telling him jokes, making him laugh hard enough that the doctors were worried Eddie was going to pull his stitches. But Richie wouldn't have been anywhere else than at his bedside. So it was no surprise that he was there the day Eddie was released, two months later. The other Losers were going to get there later that night, but Richie had never left. 

As he stood there, just outside the doors, a cheesy card held in his hand, Richie felt his palms start to sweat. He had a plan for the day, for the free hours they had until the rest of the gang converged on Derry. He was just hoping that Eddie would go along with it and not end up hating him by the end of the day. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Eddie walking out the hospital doors and right up to him. 

"Hey, you not even gonna spare me a smile?" the rapid-fire words shook Richie out of his own mind, and he looked down at the man in front of him. 

"Sorry Eds, got a little lost. You brought me back though." a light blush tinged Eddie's cheeks at the words, and Richie felt his own cheeks heat. "So, happy to be free?"

"Of course I am. That place was awful. I can't wait have real fucking food." 

"Well good thing I have a plan for that." Richie begins walking to his car, then stops when he realized Eddie isn't behind him. "Eds. Come on."

"Don't call me Eds." he grouses, then starts walking. Richie is back with him in a heartbeat when he notices the man is limping.

"Eddie, shit, you okay?" one arm automatically wraps over Richie's shoulder, Eddie leaning his weight on him.

"Yeah, just needed a little support. Thanks."

"Any time man."

***

The two spend a couple hours at a nicer restaurant in town, eating and talking about when the others are coming and what they have planned for the evening. Neither of them know, so the ideas were getting more and more far-fetched as they tried to figure it out. Eventually, they settled on them getting a life-size Pennywise and beating the shit out of him, since Eddie had been unable to join in the final fight against him. Still chuckling, Richie paid for their meals and led Eddie out of the restaurant.

"So what's next? The others aren't going to be here for..." Eddie looks down at his watch. It was 2:00 in the afternoon, "another three hours. We've got a lot of time to kill."

"Actually, I was to show you something." Richie can hear the shake in his voice, and thanks whoever is out there that Eddie doesn't make a comment on it. 

"Lead the way." Eddie tucks himself against him again, even though the limp has faded a little now that he's been up and moving for a while. 

They wander around Derry in silence for a while, taking in the town they had both known so well as children. It had changed a lot in the past 27 years, but the bare bones still remained. The store fronts were different, but they could still remember what had been there before. The town had changed, but so had they, so it was alright. Eventually, their wandering brought them to the bridge, still covered in generations of initials and names and hearts. It was here that Richie stopped. 

"So, before I show you what I have to show you, I have to say something." Richie took a deep breath, stepping away from Eddie to he could look him full in the face. "I..I'm.." he faltered, and Eddie stepped closer to him, grabbing his hand in support and comfort. "I'm gay." he said in a soft whisper, waiting for Eddie to drop his hand and step back from him. 

Instead, Eddie smiled. "Thank you for telling me. I'm glad you feel like you can trust me enough for that." a strange look was on Eddie's face, a look that Richie couldn't quite place, but he didn't question it. 

"There's something else." he leads Eddie over to a shaded, hidden section of the bridge, and crouches down. He reaches out a hand, tracing over the faded R+E he had carved there 27 years ago. "I had the biggest crush on you Eds. For so long. And then when we all left Derry, when we all forgot, there was still something in the back of my mind that made me so unable to date anyone else, to get married. I think that it was something inside of me telling me that I was already in love with someone else, and that I wasn't allowed to fall again. Sure, I tried, but it wasn't until Mike called that I remembered why. That I remembered that it was you all along. That it still is you. I wasn't going to say anything, but then you almost died and I...I couldn't stand it if I didn't tell you, so here we are."

It all comes spilling out of him. Words he had kept inside for almost 30 years, too scared to voice them then, and too scared he'd never get to say them now. He doesn't look at Eddie, and he can feel tears pricking his eyes as Eddie's hand pulls away from his. His shoulder's slump, and the tears begin to fall as he hears Eddie begin to laugh.

"You absolute idiot. You absolute fucking idiot." are the words that come bursting out of Eddie's mouth, and Richie shoots up and begins to walk away, so that Eddie doesn't see the tears soaking his face and clouding his glasses. He's jerked to a stop though as Eddie grabs his arm and yanks him over to another section of the bridge and pulls him to the ground. 

There, small and shaky, is an E+R. 

Richie whips his head towards Eddie so fast that he hears his neck crack. There are tears on Eddie's face too, but a smile wide enough to light up the sky. "Why didn't you _say_ something, you idiot?" 

Richie answers this question by lurching forward and kissing Eddie square on the mouth. He tastes of peppermint gum and salty tears and something that's so purely Eddie that he never wants to stop. And when Eddie kisses him back and tangles his fingers in Richie's hair, it feels like coming home. 

***

Later, when all the Losers are back, crammed into the hotel room that Richie had been staying in, they all notice the closeness of the two men. But it is nothing new, so no comment is made. The two don't feel the need to tell the gang, but no one misses the kiss Eddie presses to Richie's cheek. It is Bill that makes a comment then, one that sums up what they had all been thinking.

"S-so, you two f-f-finally figured your sh-sh-shit out?" 

Everyone laughs, and no one harder than Eddie and Richie. 

It seemed like they had, indeed, figured shit out. 


End file.
